Not Possible To Evacuate Indians From Yemen At This Stage: Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI (NDTV) — External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday made it clear in a series of tweets that India has had to shut down its embassy in war-torn Yemen and it is not possible to evacuate any more Indians from the Arab nation any more.

She said this in response to a tweet from a person who stated that a woman from Hyderabad was stuck in Hajjah, 127 km from Yemen’s capital Sanaa, along with her children after her husband divorced her and left for the US.

“We evacuated more than 4,500 Indians and over 2,500 foreigners from Yemen,” Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

She said that the Indian government made repeated requests calling upon Indians to leave Yemen.

“We had to close our embassy in Sanaa due to situation prevailing there,” she said, adding that some people chose to stay back.

“Some of those evacuated, returned to Yemen,” Sushma Swaraj stated.

“We do not have our Embassy there. It is a war-torn situation. We are not in a position to evacuate people from Yemen at this stage,” she added.

Yemen is under attack from a Saudi Arabia-led Arab coalition after an established government was dislodged from power by Houthi rebels.

The 16-month civil war has killed more than 6,500 people and displaced more than 2.5 million people.